Not Alone

(TW- harm to animals, descriptive gore, death)

*Ugh. What is it this time? I finally fell asleep and now- Wait. What's that noise?*

Cracking my burning, sleep crusted eyes, I try to force them into focus so I can look around the room for the sound.

*Maybe it's the TV?* The show I was watching when I fell asleep plays, muffled. I look at it and see the main characters dancing, eyes locked together in a clearly tense moment. *It's definitely not the tv.*

Eyes still cracked, I continue to scan the room for the sound. Looking just below the tv, the round coffee table is covered in trash, cups, barbies and kinetic sand. I really need to clean up in here. Its getting out of hand.

Starting to sit up off the couch, the blanket falls off my shoulders. The noise is getting louder. It was like a toddler, licking its thumbs after a bag of cheetos. Noisy and wet. Something moves in the corner of my vision. I stop, frozen in place. In an instant, adrenaline courses through my veins and into my heart as it beats rapidly. 

Sitting on the floor, leaned against the coffee table is a shape. The shape moves and writhes. As it begins to fully come into focus, it takes a humanoid shape. The only light in the room from the tv, shifts from color to color, exposing the shapes pale grey blue skin. Veins and crumbling skin climb up its arms and legs, towards its emaciated chest. 

It grabs a chunk of its flesh that had flaked off and raises it up towards its head. I watch as the creature brings where its lips should be. What was once a smooth surface cracks wide open, revealing rows of sharp teeth, glistening in the light. The creature's tongue slowly extends up and out of its mouth, inhumanly long, towards the morsel. It begins licking the piece of flesh pinched between its boney fingers, like its tasting it, before its tongue splits into 2, saliva stringing between each spindly tongue. The creature then drops the chunk into its mouth and swallows without even bothering to chew, before snapping its jaws shut with unimaginable force.

My mind races trying to figure out any rational reason for what I'm seeing and find none. *I am in the midst of a monster. A real, life, actual monster.*

The creature then begins to stand up. I quickly lay back down, shut my eyes tight, and throw my arm over my face to try and obscure the fear I know I can't hide. Please God, don't let it have noticed me.

I feel the air in the room shift, and a presence hovering next to and above me. It takes everything I have not to scream. The creature seems to stand there for eternity, slowly getting closer and closer to my arm and face. My body trembles, betraying the fact I am not asleep.

Finally, it moves away. I dare not move for the rest of the night. I lay there as the sound of squelching and ripping flesh, bones breaking and satisfied sighs echo in the living room.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The morning sun's rays glow golden from under my eyelids. I must have fallen asleep at some point. Opening my eyes, I turn my head to look at the tv and lift my aching arm. The patronising “Are you still watching?” screen shines on the TV screen. Taking a deep breath, I sigh.

“Are you still watching?” I say mockingly to the tv as I sit up and grab the remote. The moment I move, my head throbs with pain. *Ugh. Seriously? Again?* After turning off the TV, I set the remote down and rub my face with my palms. A few minutes later, I stand up and stretch, cracking my back in the process.

“Nice.” Talking out loud to myself helps me feel not so alone on weekends when my kid is with her dad.

Walking over to the coffee machine, I call out for my dog.

“Winchester!” No reply. I try again, grabbing his morning treats and shaking the bag, thinking maybe he didn't hear.

“Winchester?” Still nothing.

Starting to get worried, I call for him again, this time using his nickname in a highpitched voice that never fails to summon him. “Wenches! Commere boy!”

I wait for a few seconds and still hear nothing. Its a small townhome, so there's no way he didn't hear me.

Worrying he may have gotten out sometime over the night, I go to the backdoor and look outside. \*Nope, the gates still shut.\* I shut the door and walk into my room to check his normal spots- the end of my bed, in the closet under the dresses, in the shower. Nothing. 

*Thats odd.*

Kneeling down to check under the bed, it hits me. Last night. The slurping. The bones crunching. A jolt of fear and panic courses through me. *No. No, that wasn't real. That was just a half sleep hallucination like times when I have sleep paralysis. Yeah. Sleep paralysis. Thats all it was. Just, one I could move in?*

Turning my head, I look towards the living room from my bed. My legs and hands begin to shake as I stand and make my way back to the room I slept in the night before. Every step feels heavier, like someone continues adding more and more weight to it.

Gripping my necklace for comfort, I step into the living room. Nothing looks out of the ordinary. I call out for Winchester again, my voice shaky. Still no reply. No jingle of his collar, scratches of his nails on the tile, or even the panting of a hyperactive dog.

As I round the edge of the couch, there's a squishing noise as I step on something wet. A surprised yelp escapes my lips as I jump back into the wall and look at what I had just stepped on. It was Winchester's stuffed hot dog. I sigh in relief and chuckle as I reach down to pick it up so I can put it in his basket. *I swear that dog is the slobberiest creature I have ever-*

A metallic scent slams into me, cutting through my thoughts. I freeze, holding the wet toy in my hand. I stare at the toy for a moment and my heart stops. My eyes dart to the floor as I see a pool of something red where I had just picked up the toy. I look back at the toy and scream, throwing it as far away from me as I can as I drop to the floor against the wall.

That wasn't Winchester's stuffed hot dog.

Heart racing, I crawl towards the coffee table, noticing a large red spot on the rug peaking out from behind. My thoughts get more and more panicked. \*No… No, No, No no nononononono!\*

I peek behind the coffee table and almost pass out from pure shock, fear and horror. 

There lay Winchester, or what was left of him. Blood soaks the rug and a stray green decorative pillow that was left on the floor. Tufts of fur barely hanging onto patches of skin. Bones snapped into small pieces and strewn about. Organs with bites taken out and ripped apart. Tears stream down my face as I scream, hitting notes I didn't know I was capable of. 

Then, I heard it. A bone chilling sound, vaguely like laughter. It starts low and quiet, before becoming maniacal. Frantically, I look around. Other than the lump of flesh that was once my beloved pet, everything else in my home looked normal. 

Something grabs my neck and begins squeezing, quickly cutting off the oxygen. My hands fly up to my neck and begin their attempts at ripping the assailant away. Tilting my head back to try and gasp for air, I look up. As my vision begins to blur, a shadow blocks the morning sun's light. The shadow shifts as a crack appears, seeming to split it in two. A sticky substance drips onto my face and into my eyes. It burns worse than that time when I touched my eyes after cutting jalapenos. My mouth opens to try and scream, only for something to drip into my mouth too, sliding down my throat, burning everything it touches. 

Within moments, my body feels heavy and my arms drop down to my sides. Eyes unfocusing, I watch as rows of jagged, blood stained teeth approach my face, before everything goes dark.